Meep (software)

Last updated
Meep
Developer(s) ab initio research group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Initial release2006;18 years ago (2006)
Stable release
1.28.0 / November 10, 2023;8 months ago (2023-11-10)
Repository github.com/NanoComp/meep
Written in C++
Operating system Linux, macOS
Type Simulation software
License GNU General Public License
Website meep.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Meep (MIT Electromagnetic Equation Propagation) is an free and open-source [1] software package for electromagnetic simulations, developed by ab initio research group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006. Operating under Unix-like systems, it uses finite-difference time-domain method with perfectly matched layer or periodic boundary conditions for field computation. [2]

Contents

Meep supports dispersive, nonlinear and anisotropic media, and features subpixel smoothing and parallelization, as well as an embedded frequency-domain solver for steady-state fields and eigenmode expansion. [2] The package was subsequently expanded to include an adjoint solver for topology optimization and inverse design, [3] and a Python interface. [4]

The software is widely adopted by optics and photonics communities, [5] with applications including the analysis and design of metalenses [6] [7] and photonic crystals. [8] [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

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A photonic crystal is an optical nanostructure in which the refractive index changes periodically. This affects the propagation of light in the same way that the structure of natural crystals gives rise to X-ray diffraction and that the atomic lattices of semiconductors affect their conductivity of electrons. Photonic crystals occur in nature in the form of structural coloration and animal reflectors, and, as artificially produced, promise to be useful in a range of applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metamaterial</span> Materials engineered to have properties that have not yet been found in nature

A metamaterial is a type of material engineered to have a property that is rarely observed in naturally occurring materials. They are made from assemblies of multiple elements fashioned from composite materials such as metals and plastics. These materials are usually arranged in repeating patterns, at scales that are smaller than the wavelengths of the phenomena they influence. Metamaterials derive their properties not from the properties of the base materials, but from their newly designed structures. Their precise shape, geometry, size, orientation and arrangement gives them their smart properties capable of manipulating electromagnetic waves: by blocking, absorbing, enhancing, or bending waves, to achieve benefits that go beyond what is possible with conventional materials.

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A perfectly matched layer (PML) is an artificial absorbing layer for wave equations, commonly used to truncate computational regions in numerical methods to simulate problems with open boundaries, especially in the FDTD and FE methods. The key property of a PML that distinguishes it from an ordinary absorbing material is that it is designed so that waves incident upon the PML from a non-PML medium do not reflect at the interface—this property allows the PML to strongly absorb outgoing waves from the interior of a computational region without reflecting them back into the interior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allen Taflove</span> American engineer (1949–2021)

Allen Taflove was a full professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering, since 1988. Since 1972, he pioneered basic theoretical approaches, numerical algorithms, and applications of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) computational solutions of Maxwell's equations. He coined the descriptors "finite difference time domain" and "FDTD" in the 1980 paper, "Application of the finite-difference time-domain method to sinusoidal steady-state electromagnetic penetration problems." In 1990, he was the first person to be named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in the FDTD area. Taflove was the recipient of the 2014 IEEE Electromagnetics Award with the following citation: "For contributions to the development and application of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solutions of Maxwell's equations across the electromagnetic spectrum." He was a Life Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the Optical Society (OSA). His OSA Fellow citation reads: "For creating the finite-difference time-domain method for the numerical solution of Maxwell's equations, with crucial application to the growth and current state of the field of photonics."

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An optical transistor, also known as an optical switch or a light valve, is a device that switches or amplifies optical signals. Light occurring on an optical transistor's input changes the intensity of light emitted from the transistor's output while output power is supplied by an additional optical source. Since the input signal intensity may be weaker than that of the source, an optical transistor amplifies the optical signal. The device is the optical analog of the electronic transistor that forms the basis of modern electronic devices. Optical transistors provide a means to control light using only light and has applications in optical computing and fiber-optic communication networks. Such technology has the potential to exceed the speed of electronics, while conserving more power. The fastest demonstrated all-optical switching signal is 900 attoseconds, which paves the way to develop ultrafast optical transistors.

The Kibble–Zurek mechanism (KZM) describes the non-equilibrium dynamics and the formation of topological defects in a system which is driven through a continuous phase transition at finite rate. It is named after Tom W. B. Kibble, who pioneered the study of domain structure formation through cosmological phase transitions in the early universe, and Wojciech H. Zurek, who related the number of defects it creates to the critical exponents of the transition and to its rate—to how quickly the critical point is traversed.

Dyakonov surface waves (DSWs) are surface electromagnetic waves that travel along the interface in between an isotropic and an uniaxial-birefringent medium. They were theoretically predicted in 1988 by the Russian physicist Mikhail Dyakonov. Unlike other types of acoustic and electromagnetic surface waves, the DSW's existence is due to the difference in symmetry of materials forming the interface. He considered the interface between an isotropic transmitting medium and an anisotropic uniaxial crystal, and showed that under certain conditions waves localized at the interface should exist. Later, similar waves were predicted to exist at the interface between two identical uniaxial crystals with different orientations. The previously known electromagnetic surface waves, surface plasmons and surface plasmon polaritons, exist under the condition that the permittivity of one of the materials forming the interface is negative, while the other one is positive. In contrast, the DSW can propagate when both materials are transparent; hence they are virtually lossless, which is their most fascinating property.

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References

  1. "Meep: License and Copyright". meep.readthedocs.io. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  2. 1 2 Oskooi, Ardavan F.; Roundy, David; Ibanescu, Mihai; Bermel, Peter; Joannopoulos, J.D.; Johnson, Steven G. (March 2010). "Meep: A flexible free-software package for electromagnetic simulations by the FDTD method". Computer Physics Communications . 181 (3): 687–702. doi:10.1016/j.cpc.2009.11.008. hdl: 1721.1/60946 .
  3. Hammond, Alec M.; Oskooi, Ardavan; Chen, Mo; Lin, Zin; Johnson, Steven G.; Ralph, Stephen E. (2022). "High-performance hybrid time/frequency-domain topology optimization for large-scale photonics inverse design". Optics Express . 30 (3): 4467–4491. doi: 10.1364/OE.442074 .
  4. "Meep: FAQ". meep.readthedocs.io. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  5. McCoy, Dakota E.; Shneidman, Anna V.; Davis, Alexander L.; Aizenberg, Joanna (December 2021). "Finite-difference Time-domain (FDTD) Optical Simulations: A Primer for the Life Sciences and Bio-Inspired Engineering". Micron . 151: 103160. doi: 10.1016/j.micron.2021.103160 .
  6. Arbabi, Amir; Horie, Yu; Ball, Alexander J.; Bagheri, Mahmood; Faraon, Andrei (2015). "Subwavelength-thick lenses with high numerical apertures and large efficiency based on high-contrast transmitarrays". Nature Communications . 6: 7069. arXiv: 1410.8261 . doi:10.1038/ncomms8069. PMID   25947118.
  7. Zhou, You; Zheng, Hanyu; Kravchenko, Ivan I.; Valentine, Jason (2020). "Flat optics for image differentiation". Nature Photonics . 14 (5): 316–323. doi:10.1038/s41566-020-0591-3. OSTI   1619041.
  8. Goban, A.; Hung, C.-L.; Hood, J. D.; Yu, S.-P.; Muniz, J. A.; Painter, O.; Kimble, H. J. (August 2015). "Superradiance for Atoms Trapped along a Photonic Crystal Waveguide". Physical Review Letters . 115 (6): 063601. arXiv: 1503.04503 . doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.063601. PMID   26296116.
  9. Wu, Long-Hua; Hu, Xiao (June 2015). "Scheme for Achieving a Topological Photonic Crystal by Using Dielectric Material". Physical Review Letters . 114 (22): 223901. arXiv: 1503.00416 . doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.223901. PMID   26196622.